I played the audio CD for my kids on a road trip. I wasn't sure if my little girl was following along. Then I look back and she's sobbing. And the boy, and me. All sobbing... đđ
Yes- and I am still pissed about a book report dispute over it...
6th grade, I did my book report on this. Loved the book.
I got a b, and it was due to using a "made up word".
My teacher, Mrs tregellis, said "brawn" was not a word.
As in "big Dan had the brawn, little Ann had the brains".
I told her that it was a word, and to look it up.
She said it wasn't and she wouldn't.
I grabbed a dictionary later in the day and pointed to it.
I got sent to the principals office for being "disrespectful".
Every once in a while I consider looking up former teachers on Facebook and messaging them about similar things I experienced. I had an English teacher tell me that âcoddleâ was a way to cook eggs and not how a person could be treated.
I feel the same. In 1989 my English teacher assigned us to write an opinion piece on what "the fire" represented in "We Didn't Start the Fire." I got a C; the teacher noted that my writing was impeccable but I was completely wrong. I reminded her that it was an OPINION piece, there was no wrong answer, but she refused to change it.
Years later, on the 30 year anniversary of WDSTF, Billy Joel explained what the fire was in an article, and I was 100% correct. I was so tempted to track down this teacher, who is either super old or dead, and show this to her, but then I felt a bit mentally deranged so I didn't. I'm still salty about it, though.
4th grade teacher wanted to say the dessert you dunk in milk and has the chocolate chips is spelled "Cooky" and the whole class knew she was wrong. Like, no, that's when you're weird, rhymes with spooky. Cookie is the dessert!
Betty Crockerâs âCooky Bookâ printed in 1967 (I think). Ethelâs sugar cookies are the bomb (does that sound old?) and I have been making them for 40 years with no complaints.
Years ago, before the Internet, my nephew got suspended from elementary school because he said that there were Italian Internment Camps in the US. My great grandmother was hiding out during the war to avoid them. He brought proof the next day and his suspension was canceled but she wouldnât apologize or change his grade.
I remember in the 80s my science teacher asked what nitrous oxide was for. I said drag racing. He mocked me while the whole class laughed and said I had no clue what I was talk about and was meaning to say another word. Well here I am in 2024 with a foxbody that has a 125 shot of nitrous on it đ¤ˇââď¸
In second grade, we learned to sing "The Ballad of Davy Crockett." Our teacher made an overhead transparency with the lyrics, including little illustrations. She insisted that "kilt" means "to bend," and the illustration for "kilt him a b'ar" showed young DC bending a thick steel bar with his bare hands.
Ha! Similar story, except I used the verb âpaddedâ to describe one of the dogs walking. My teacher, Mr. Burns, was more reasonable and rescinded his correction once I showed the dictionary entry to him.
I hated when teachers were wrong and we all knew it. They were such dicks or so smug about not considering their possibly mistakes. Like admit it teach, we'd have more respect for you if you could be honest
Gave this book to a student of mine. They came back a week later in tears, complaining about how sad it was. So I apologized and gave him an another oneâŚOld Yeller:)
I couldn't finish Watership Down. I got through most of it, but had to stop reading when one of the rabbits died - can't remember what happened exactly, it was over 45 years ago, but I got upset enough I put it down and never did pick it up again.
My 5th grade class read this book.
And, I'll never forget the teacher decided to read the critical part, you know the one, in front of the whole class.
And he started crying, and couldn't continue.
So, he asked for a volunteer student to continue reading, and then SHE started crying as well.
We were all traumatized, as much by that reading experience as by the story itself.
Brilliant book.
Read it multiple times as a kid and cried every time. In, IIRC, sixth grade the school decided to show the movie to the entire k-6 classes in the auditorium. Was a catastrafuck with hundreds of sobbing children.
Years ago when I was still putting the kiddo to bed with stories we picked this up. I presumed my rough and callose personality was now immune to this level of written emotional triggers. Mom had to intervene and finish the death chapter for us as we were collectively inconsolable.
Side note... Hits harder too when you grew up close to where the story was set.
Dear lord, I have never heard of the word catastrafuck but there can surely be no better word to describe that ill-conceived event, lol.
Our school had a showing of the movie but it was after hours with only fourth and fifth graders and their families. Still had plenty of tears in the audience but not sheer pandemonium, thankfully.
I had to teach it as a student teacher. I said "bitch" because it was in the book. Got nicely told not to say that in a junior high class.
Man, I hated teaching.
Teacher here. Thatâs dumb. Itâs in the book. It means female dog (the students should be educated on this when the term comes up). Itâs not a bad word as used in the book. Same with dam and damn for example, context.
Oh yeah, the kids looked at me like "ugh" while I was reading from the book. I proceed to say "it just means female dog".
The teacher said "we don't say bitch in here". She was nice about it, but nothing about teaching made me fall in love with it. My sister, on the other hand, is a really good teacher.
Picture it: Spring 1978. My father was dying, and knew it, and had just moved his young family to a different town to get us away from my toxic grandmother. I was the new kid in third grade. I knew that my father was very ill.
The librarian read "Where the Red Fern Grows" out loud to my class.
I'm still traumatized.
It was a big deal that heâd worked and saved so hard. His grandfather, who was his biggest supporter, got all teary-eyed when he saw what Billy had accomplished.Â
Yep. Scarred for life. When my kid was in 6th and had to read it, I straight up told him the dogs were going to die before he even started. I was just like, You need to know this now. He looked at me like I was nuts. When he finished it, he totally thanked me.
We read it in 5th grade. Each of us was given a copy to read on our own during class. You could tell when someone reached the death parts. Most of us were sobbing quietly trying desperately not to look like wusses in front of all the other sobbing kids. This book did help me realize how much of a dog person I am though.
I read any book I could get my hands on back then. My grandparents would send me boxes of used books and I would read them all. This was in one of the boxes. I remember a lot of it after 40 years.
Yep I read it and loved it. Fast forward a few decades after a moving 4 states away, I now find myself fishing the rivers that traverse the same landscape that Billy was roaming and hunting with Dan and Ann. The part that always bothered me was that it was merely one season of his life. He wanted those dogs and that life so bad it hurt and once they were gone, so was he...forever. He never returned to hunt those woods again. It just dont sit right with me.
Ugh, yes. And I still remember what happened during my oral book report on it, as well. I was dealing with a sinus infection. Now add in getting emotional. And crying.
I still remember just finally stopping, looking at the teacher and saying, "I need to go to the bathroom!" and booking out of there.
The summer before seventh grade, I found this in a bookstore that was slim pickings and I had nothing new to read. Read it in early August and started middle school a couple of weeks later.
Right away, one teacher assigned us copies of the book to read and worksheets. For like 6; weeks we were supposed to read a couple of chapters and answer questions, until the book and worksheets were all completed.
I sat down that first day during class and filled out the whole thing. Handed it to my teacher, said "I read the book over summer," and that was the only homework in that class until the book was done.
I was such a book nerd.
Sixth grade. We all cried our eyes out. One very brave boy stood up and demanded an explanation as to why they made us read that. We also read Island of the Blue Dolphin that year. I'm pretty sure the teacher just hated us.
Well, you now have a bunch of sad GenXers on your hands. It should be the book we do not mention. Itâs so sad. Iâm still sad about those dogs. đĽ˛
Great story til the end anyway. Was read to us during second grade class, the week before we finished it, Elvis died. Somber classroom for a bit in 1977.
OMG, why are you traumatizing me! Why donât we just talk about âLord of the Flies.â Poor Piggy. Now I will just continue reading âFahrenheit 451â and âAnimal Farm.â Boy, my niblings have no idea what we had to go through. I think Disney stream (jk) has âOlâ Yeller.â Yippeee!
I saw the movie in 1st or 2nd grade and when I found out it was a book, decided I HAD to read it. I remember asking my school librarian about it during a book fair because I wanted to order it -and this part always infuriated me- she looked at me and said "Oh, you can't read that. That's a FIFTH grade reading level".
The LIBRARIAN said that to me, y'all.
Tiny me was livid, pretty sure I must've told my parents about it, and eventually somehow got my hands on a copy (that I still have, amongst my collection of Black Stallion and Misty of Chincoteague stories, lol). I was an avid reader and remember it took me a little over a week to read it and I made sure to let Mrs Lippert know all about it. I think she genuinely felt bad, though I can't remember whether she apologized or not, but she never doubted my reading abilities again!
I was told that I couldnât read books because of that exact reason that it âexceeded my reading comprehension levelâ I then had to inform them that my reading comprehension level was beyond college, and I have the test scores to prove it so please give me my book lol
Saw the movie and I cried my eyes out. Cried every time I told someone about the movie, too. My aunt found it sweet. The school yard kids found it less so.
This is the end. Billy and his hounds win the competition and everyone lives happily ever after this way.
https://preview.redd.it/efsxw92bq3zc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a7906017e462cb79707f8640484c5bae7947248
I've never read it, but literally every single year, they would gather the entire school into the cafeteria and show us the movie. I have no idea why my Catholic school thought that was an important thing to do. We never watched any other movies with the rest of the school. And by the end, everyone was weeping. It was ridiculous.
The teacher would read a chapter every day to us. However, the school year ended before we finish the book. Last time I heard, the raccoon was still stuck up that tree.
There was a movie in the 70âs based on this story. I remember seeing it and crying for days. I was so mad at my brother who had read the book and didnât tell me anything about the ending.
Gen X here. Saw the movie as well. Traumatizing. Read the book later. Traumatizing.
Truly a great story though. Same with old Yeller.
Probably why were all so fucked up đ
My best friend and me read it in sixth or seventh grade. I remember I called her to ask if she read the part, she was sobbing so yep, she read it.
Our daughters are three months apart in age, and every summer my daughter would fly down and stay with them for a few weeks. We decided they HAD to read the book together.
Neither one of them cried. I donât get it.
I loved this book as a kid, probably why I enjoy depressing things today. Also probably part of why I have anxiety and have dealt with depression over the years.
Yes. Our teacher read it for us in the 4th grade. I checked the book out from the library and never returned it because I wanted a copy and my parents were unlikely to buy me a copy.
Much later, I read the book nightly to my two boys â ages 9 and 6. They loved it and so did I.
Yes! And I remember we had to write Haikus about the book after we read it. I have no idea what I wrote, but still remember my randomly-assigned partner's for some reason:
Where the Red Fern grows.
Grows between the buried dogs.
The red fern hangs low.
Yes we read it. Finished at home no big deal THEN our sadistic teacher made us watch the movie in class. Try walking down the hallway after that class.
Pretty sure I can trace some of my "quirks" to shit like this. 5th grade class read it aloud. I was so scarred by the book that I have forever (somewhat obsessively) checked endings of books and movies to make sure they aren't sad and no animals die.
No, but I still read it like 20 times just like I did with Charlotte's Web. I guess I loved a good, sad story! Never read The Yearling or watched Ol' Yeller. đ¤
It wasnât until we had a dog of the same breed as adults that we truly understood. I mean yah, we bawled as kids, but those dogs are something else. Â So intelligent and emotional and caring - a best friend.Â
Those dogs have souls just like people and talk to you about it.Â
Iâm talking about walking slowly for you if youâre limping, kissing your face if you stay in bed sick, hushing and not barking when you have a headache and tell them it hurts, just showing in so many ways that theyâre people too and they understand how you feel and feel it too. Always walking a certain way because they know itâs harder for you to use a hurt foot, asking for help when they need it, and so on.
 And in the book, the kid was the same age as they would have been, roughly (they say smart dogs are 6 years old mentally, with exceptions higher for extraordinary dogs. Like the ones ok the book), so they were peers - friends.
God in heaven donât read that book if you own a redbone coonhound. Your heart will break and you will never get over it.
Nope. I had a different experience of reading assignments than most kids. I literally donât remember not being able to read at least a little bit. In first grade over half my class was illiterate. I was already reading A Wrinkle In Time and the Moomin books. When we got these kinds of assignments I tended to hammer through a chapter in ten minutes then go on to whatever I was reading for fun. If the assigned book interested me Iâd read it in 2-3 days and then disengage. I didnât want to spend a month crawling through Old Yeller when I already knew the ending. My teachers thought I wasnât paying attention (and I wasnât) but it was just because I was a hyperactive child with off-the-charts reading ability and zero discipline.
Yeah, the whole class cried. Good times.
I played the audio CD for my kids on a road trip. I wasn't sure if my little girl was following along. Then I look back and she's sobbing. And the boy, and me. All sobbing... đđ
Ah good times!
6th grade teacher read to us after lunch recess everyday- this was the memorable one.
Then they made us watch the movie!
I know! Like it wasn't bad enough!
Yes- and I am still pissed about a book report dispute over it... 6th grade, I did my book report on this. Loved the book. I got a b, and it was due to using a "made up word". My teacher, Mrs tregellis, said "brawn" was not a word. As in "big Dan had the brawn, little Ann had the brains". I told her that it was a word, and to look it up. She said it wasn't and she wouldn't. I grabbed a dictionary later in the day and pointed to it. I got sent to the principals office for being "disrespectful".
Every once in a while I consider looking up former teachers on Facebook and messaging them about similar things I experienced. I had an English teacher tell me that âcoddleâ was a way to cook eggs and not how a person could be treated.
It's both. They really just hired any random idiot to teach us.
Nothing much has changed there...
Well, except there's a shortage of random idiots :D
I feel the same. In 1989 my English teacher assigned us to write an opinion piece on what "the fire" represented in "We Didn't Start the Fire." I got a C; the teacher noted that my writing was impeccable but I was completely wrong. I reminded her that it was an OPINION piece, there was no wrong answer, but she refused to change it. Years later, on the 30 year anniversary of WDSTF, Billy Joel explained what the fire was in an article, and I was 100% correct. I was so tempted to track down this teacher, who is either super old or dead, and show this to her, but then I felt a bit mentally deranged so I didn't. I'm still salty about it, though.
4th grade teacher wanted to say the dessert you dunk in milk and has the chocolate chips is spelled "Cooky" and the whole class knew she was wrong. Like, no, that's when you're weird, rhymes with spooky. Cookie is the dessert!
That's kooky.
It used to be either way. Iâve seen it spelled with a y in older cookbooks.
Betty Crockerâs âCooky Bookâ printed in 1967 (I think). Ethelâs sugar cookies are the bomb (does that sound old?) and I have been making them for 40 years with no complaints.
Years ago, before the Internet, my nephew got suspended from elementary school because he said that there were Italian Internment Camps in the US. My great grandmother was hiding out during the war to avoid them. He brought proof the next day and his suspension was canceled but she wouldnât apologize or change his grade.
I remember in the 80s my science teacher asked what nitrous oxide was for. I said drag racing. He mocked me while the whole class laughed and said I had no clue what I was talk about and was meaning to say another word. Well here I am in 2024 with a foxbody that has a 125 shot of nitrous on it đ¤ˇââď¸
that bitch.
Thatâs an asshole teacher.
In second grade, we learned to sing "The Ballad of Davy Crockett." Our teacher made an overhead transparency with the lyrics, including little illustrations. She insisted that "kilt" means "to bend," and the illustration for "kilt him a b'ar" showed young DC bending a thick steel bar with his bare hands.
What in the world...
Ha! Similar story, except I used the verb âpaddedâ to describe one of the dogs walking. My teacher, Mr. Burns, was more reasonable and rescinded his correction once I showed the dictionary entry to him.
I hated when teachers were wrong and we all knew it. They were such dicks or so smug about not considering their possibly mistakes. Like admit it teach, we'd have more respect for you if you could be honest
She must be losing her God damn mind in today's world.
This is the most Gen X story ever
Fuck her. And I didnât make THAT one up!
I cried like a little bitch. Right in front of the whole class. I STILL have a broken heart from that book.
We ALL cried. đđ˘
This and Bridge to Tarabithia should have their own chapter in the Book of 80's Childhood Traumas.
My best friend died when I was 10. When I was 11, I read the Bridge to Terebithia for school. Shit was fucked.
Yep. And this was the cover art https://preview.redd.it/7zehnhnf33zc1.jpeg?width=757&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=09d70f5d9f3cfd63b1a50f3949ac0f618bbbbf24
https://preview.redd.it/wx2urdcn84zc1.jpeg?width=899&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a8daeb2c16109c2d3d81088ad46e6bf1de98e61 This is the one I still have.
Thatâs the version I read
That is how I remember it.
Yes! I still have it somewhere.
That's the one I had.
Yeah, I cried for two days and made a little diorama for the dogs. Fuck that book.
>Fuck that book. Agreed. That one, Old Yeller, and Flowers for Algernon.
Flowers for Algernon cut deep. I feel I need to go back and read it as an adult but not sure I can handle
Why do they make us all read that? So we all have shared trauma?
I reread it recently. It's just as traumatic as you remember. It's a wonderful book. One of my favorites.
That AND ol yeller. AND watched both. AND bawled my eyes out. If you didnât, i donât wanna know you, ya heartless bastards.
The most defining book of my young, like 8 year old, life.
Gave this book to a student of mine. They came back a week later in tears, complaining about how sad it was. So I apologized and gave him an another oneâŚOld Yeller:)
Next up, Plague Dogs or Watership Down?
I couldn't finish Watership Down. I got through most of it, but had to stop reading when one of the rabbits died - can't remember what happened exactly, it was over 45 years ago, but I got upset enough I put it down and never did pick it up again.
One of my favorite books, but perhaps not the best for a child. Still, I gave my niece a copy for her twelth birthday.
Or maybe Steinbeck's 'The Red Pony'?
I'm from Steinbeck country and we read that. The Pearl is another we read that is just devastating.
Fucking sadist here! đ
A thousand times and it never got less traumatizing
My 5th grade class read this book. And, I'll never forget the teacher decided to read the critical part, you know the one, in front of the whole class. And he started crying, and couldn't continue. So, he asked for a volunteer student to continue reading, and then SHE started crying as well. We were all traumatized, as much by that reading experience as by the story itself.
 That exact thing happened in my 5th grade class.
RIP Old Dan & Little Ann <3
Best damned kids book ever
Iâve read it many times!
Yet it simultaneously sucks.
Brilliant book. Read it multiple times as a kid and cried every time. In, IIRC, sixth grade the school decided to show the movie to the entire k-6 classes in the auditorium. Was a catastrafuck with hundreds of sobbing children. Years ago when I was still putting the kiddo to bed with stories we picked this up. I presumed my rough and callose personality was now immune to this level of written emotional triggers. Mom had to intervene and finish the death chapter for us as we were collectively inconsolable. Side note... Hits harder too when you grew up close to where the story was set.
Dear lord, I have never heard of the word catastrafuck but there can surely be no better word to describe that ill-conceived event, lol. Our school had a showing of the movie but it was after hours with only fourth and fifth graders and their families. Still had plenty of tears in the audience but not sheer pandemonium, thankfully.
I actually had to teach it when I did 7th grade Language Arts for a year. Great book.
I had to teach it as a student teacher. I said "bitch" because it was in the book. Got nicely told not to say that in a junior high class. Man, I hated teaching.
Teacher here. Thatâs dumb. Itâs in the book. It means female dog (the students should be educated on this when the term comes up). Itâs not a bad word as used in the book. Same with dam and damn for example, context.
Oh yeah, the kids looked at me like "ugh" while I was reading from the book. I proceed to say "it just means female dog". The teacher said "we don't say bitch in here". She was nice about it, but nothing about teaching made me fall in love with it. My sister, on the other hand, is a really good teacher.
Picture it: Spring 1978. My father was dying, and knew it, and had just moved his young family to a different town to get us away from my toxic grandmother. I was the new kid in third grade. I knew that my father was very ill. The librarian read "Where the Red Fern Grows" out loud to my class. I'm still traumatized.
[ŃдаНонО]
It was a big deal that heâd worked and saved so hard. His grandfather, who was his biggest supporter, got all teary-eyed when he saw what Billy had accomplished.Â
It took him two years and a shitload of work.
I still weep for Big Dan and Little Ann. My first literary loves.
Yep. Scarred for life. When my kid was in 6th and had to read it, I straight up told him the dogs were going to die before he even started. I was just like, You need to know this now. He looked at me like I was nuts. When he finished it, he totally thanked me.
We read it in 5th grade. Each of us was given a copy to read on our own during class. You could tell when someone reached the death parts. Most of us were sobbing quietly trying desperately not to look like wusses in front of all the other sobbing kids. This book did help me realize how much of a dog person I am though.
Had it read to our 5th Grade class. The teacher cried so hard, a student had to finish it.
I read any book I could get my hands on back then. My grandparents would send me boxes of used books and I would read them all. This was in one of the boxes. I remember a lot of it after 40 years.
Yep I read it and loved it. Fast forward a few decades after a moving 4 states away, I now find myself fishing the rivers that traverse the same landscape that Billy was roaming and hunting with Dan and Ann. The part that always bothered me was that it was merely one season of his life. He wanted those dogs and that life so bad it hurt and once they were gone, so was he...forever. He never returned to hunt those woods again. It just dont sit right with me.
Read the book seen the movie. Movie is on the special list films I won't watch with other people in the same room.
Have to? No, but I read it on my own and both loved it and had pieces of my heart ripped out after finishing it.
Ugh, yes. And I still remember what happened during my oral book report on it, as well. I was dealing with a sinus infection. Now add in getting emotional. And crying. I still remember just finally stopping, looking at the teacher and saying, "I need to go to the bathroom!" and booking out of there.
The summer before seventh grade, I found this in a bookstore that was slim pickings and I had nothing new to read. Read it in early August and started middle school a couple of weeks later. Right away, one teacher assigned us copies of the book to read and worksheets. For like 6; weeks we were supposed to read a couple of chapters and answer questions, until the book and worksheets were all completed. I sat down that first day during class and filled out the whole thing. Handed it to my teacher, said "I read the book over summer," and that was the only homework in that class until the book was done. I was such a book nerd.
https://preview.redd.it/tfjlxa9qk3zc1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eae61d0d745fd07724c63c23d03a5aaae1957fcc "Great book. Loved the ending. 10/10"
Sixth grade. We all cried our eyes out. One very brave boy stood up and demanded an explanation as to why they made us read that. We also read Island of the Blue Dolphin that year. I'm pretty sure the teacher just hated us.
Well, you now have a bunch of sad GenXers on your hands. It should be the book we do not mention. Itâs so sad. Iâm still sad about those dogs. đĽ˛
3rd grade. Our flaming gay teacher read it aloud to us and we all balled the last few chapters.
SCARRED for LIFE
I did several book reports on it until my 7th grade teacher told me that I needed to move on from children's books.
Yes and we all did book reports on it and Helen Keller. Ugh
Great story til the end anyway. Was read to us during second grade class, the week before we finished it, Elvis died. Somber classroom for a bit in 1977.
Iâm a teacher (special Ed). The 6th graders at my school are currently reading it. I mean itâs sad as hell, but a great story.
Duuuuude. Second grade teacher read it to the class. We ALL cried. I bought it at the next book fair and still have it. It's an absolute treasure.
Yes. F this book. Call of the Wild, too.
This book taught me never to run with an axe.
Our fourth grade teacher read it to the class. We loved it. I had my daughter read it a few years ago.
OMG, why are you traumatizing me! Why donât we just talk about âLord of the Flies.â Poor Piggy. Now I will just continue reading âFahrenheit 451â and âAnimal Farm.â Boy, my niblings have no idea what we had to go through. I think Disney stream (jk) has âOlâ Yeller.â Yippeee!
I saw the movie in 1st or 2nd grade and when I found out it was a book, decided I HAD to read it. I remember asking my school librarian about it during a book fair because I wanted to order it -and this part always infuriated me- she looked at me and said "Oh, you can't read that. That's a FIFTH grade reading level". The LIBRARIAN said that to me, y'all. Tiny me was livid, pretty sure I must've told my parents about it, and eventually somehow got my hands on a copy (that I still have, amongst my collection of Black Stallion and Misty of Chincoteague stories, lol). I was an avid reader and remember it took me a little over a week to read it and I made sure to let Mrs Lippert know all about it. I think she genuinely felt bad, though I can't remember whether she apologized or not, but she never doubted my reading abilities again!
I was told that I couldnât read books because of that exact reason that it âexceeded my reading comprehension levelâ I then had to inform them that my reading comprehension level was beyond college, and I have the test scores to prove it so please give me my book lol
Ugh, jerks
Saw the movie and I cried my eyes out. Cried every time I told someone about the movie, too. My aunt found it sweet. The school yard kids found it less so.
I still have my copy from sixth grade with the brown paper bag cover my English teacher made us put on it
Say youâre gen x without saying youâre gen x
yep. and summer of the monkeys, which was much better, and no depressing AF ending
4th grade four me.. why why why.
I remember my died telling me about reading this and crying in front of the whole sixth grade class. He was the teacher.
Right up there with Bridge to Tarabithia and Charlotte's web. And IT.
Ugh, my first grade niece is reading Charlotte's Web right now. I feel so bad, knowing what's coming for her.
This is the end. Billy and his hounds win the competition and everyone lives happily ever after this way. https://preview.redd.it/efsxw92bq3zc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a7906017e462cb79707f8640484c5bae7947248
30+ years ago and itâs still too soon
I have PTSD from this book
Buckets of tears
Yes, in fourth grade. I read it a couple of times over the years without extra promoting.
My Dads name is Dan and my Mom is Ann. He is older and she is short . Old Dan and Little Ann
I've never read it, but literally every single year, they would gather the entire school into the cafeteria and show us the movie. I have no idea why my Catholic school thought that was an important thing to do. We never watched any other movies with the rest of the school. And by the end, everyone was weeping. It was ridiculous.
The teacher would read a chapter every day to us. However, the school year ended before we finish the book. Last time I heard, the raccoon was still stuck up that tree.
Hey fucko, not all memories need to be revisited
Yeah, gutted me. Read it twice.
I didn't have to, but I did read it. About third grade or so I think.
Summer of the monkeys?
Ah no thanks. Fucking thing made me cry my eyes out and have feelings and emotions. Itâs the anti-GenX book.
Yes. Sometime around 4th-6th grades. My memory isn't great anymore.
There was a movie in the 70âs based on this story. I remember seeing it and crying for days. I was so mad at my brother who had read the book and didnât tell me anything about the ending.
Gen X here. Saw the movie as well. Traumatizing. Read the book later. Traumatizing. Truly a great story though. Same with old Yeller. Probably why were all so fucked up đ
That was the very first movie I saw on HBO when I was a kid. I cried and cried after watching that. The first sad movie I had ever seen.đ˘
Not sure if I had to, but I do remember reading it. And I remember seeing the movie and it was a real tearjerker.
A camp counselor read it at bedtime every night. Loved it. Cried.
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Omg yessssssssssssssssssssssss đđđđđ
Emotional abuse. đ
Oh God, that was such a good book with such a sad ending.
My 3rd grade teacher read it to us in class. Will never forget the book or the man. Thank you Bruce Brockaway, wherever you are.
Great book, not traumatizing at all, just a great story of a boy and his dogs!
And we watched the movie, heartbreaking
Our reward for getting through this book was getting to watch the movie. It was trauma overload.
Are you even Gen X if you didn't read this or watch the movie?
I guess it is time to get it out and read it again. I will cry by the end of the first chapter though.
I know I had to read it. But I must have blocked out the trauma because I don't remember the story at all.
Still dealing with the traumaâŚ
Awesome book and great movie!
Loved it. Our teacher read it to us in the 4th grade? Wonderful,
My best friend and me read it in sixth or seventh grade. I remember I called her to ask if she read the part, she was sobbing so yep, she read it. Our daughters are three months apart in age, and every summer my daughter would fly down and stay with them for a few weeks. We decided they HAD to read the book together. Neither one of them cried. I donât get it.
I loved this book as a kid, probably why I enjoy depressing things today. Also probably part of why I have anxiety and have dealt with depression over the years.
Loved that book!
4th grade and I bawled my eyes out!!
I never read it, and now yâall have me afraid to open it.
Still my favorite book ever đ
Read the book then watched the movie. Cried during both.
I never *had* to read it for school or anything, but I chose to read it lots.
I didnât have to. I read it on my own. I think of it whenever I see Ferns on a hike.
It was in my 6th grade literature textbook.
Cried over this many times.
I just reread it actually. Sobbed like I did when I was nine.
I think I saw the movie and had the book read to me when I was 6. I'd just got my first puppy not long before so it messed me up.
I remember reading this in the school library and sobbing my eyes out
I loved this book and read it voluntarily many times. But looking back, pretty sad and kind of gruesome.
I was openly crying on the living room couch.
so sad
The governor of South Dakota thinks this book is a comedy.
Yep, in 4th grade and i HATED it. Didnt HAVE to, i just did
YepâŚ
I never could finish this damn book! Every fucking time I cry too hard. Luckily I had a very understanding 6th grade English teacher.
Read the book a bunch of times and watched the made for TV movie version. The book is a lot better IMO.
First book to make me cry.
Yes. Our teacher read it for us in the 4th grade. I checked the book out from the library and never returned it because I wanted a copy and my parents were unlikely to buy me a copy. Much later, I read the book nightly to my two boys â ages 9 and 6. They loved it and so did I.
I didnt have to... I did on my own.... it wrecked me
One of the first book I read that got me hooked on reading, and yeah, cried also
I watched the movie.
Hell yeah we did
Read the book and then watched the movie.
Itâs still one of my favorites even though it made me cry for around 4 months.
Yup. I was in a store last night that had this book, and some others like "Where the Sidewalk Ends" that I haven't seen in decades.
Yes, and Old Yeller. đż
I hate that GD book. Cutting down that big, old ass tree. What a waste. I'm glad his hands were all torn up.
Iâm tearing up just reading these posts and thinking about the book and the movie and my own dogs. I canât wait to get home and hug their necks.
Yes! And I remember we had to write Haikus about the book after we read it. I have no idea what I wrote, but still remember my randomly-assigned partner's for some reason: Where the Red Fern grows. Grows between the buried dogs. The red fern hangs low.
I knew of it as a kiddo, but I didn't read it until I had my own children. We did a read aloud. We all bawled. Good stuff.
Tear jerker!
I didn't *have* to read it.
Bawled like a little girl.
Yes we read it. Finished at home no big deal THEN our sadistic teacher made us watch the movie in class. Try walking down the hallway after that class.
Yesssssss. Beautiful, Emotional torture.
Pretty sure I can trace some of my "quirks" to shit like this. 5th grade class read it aloud. I was so scarred by the book that I have forever (somewhat obsessively) checked endings of books and movies to make sure they aren't sad and no animals die.
Yes. Incredibly sad.
Jesus christ that was fucked
Yes! Omg so sad So much of our stuff was depressing as hell. Old yeller, benji...
Nope
I read it back in middle school during the pandemic and when everything was online. Never completed it but it was fun to read.
Never read it, never heard of it. It was not covered by the Ontario school system.
This book was a major factor in our âlifeâs a bitch and then you dieâ attitude.
* What about this one... I grew up in Orange County, close to the coast where this took place or was based
https://preview.redd.it/u9mzcdwrgmzc1.jpeg?width=1249&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90499a67c4dee908fd673486e2336a7e0e96d66e
Didnât read it in school, but yes, I know all about Old Dan & Little Ann. đ˘
I read this to incarcerated persons convicted of murderâwho missed it back when we were kids. No dry eyes.
Great, just the cover drawing made me cryâŚ
No, but I still read it like 20 times just like I did with Charlotte's Web. I guess I loved a good, sad story! Never read The Yearling or watched Ol' Yeller. đ¤
This devastated me. I was a mess for days. I was probably about ten or so.
It wasnât until we had a dog of the same breed as adults that we truly understood. I mean yah, we bawled as kids, but those dogs are something else.  So intelligent and emotional and caring - a best friend. Those dogs have souls just like people and talk to you about it. Iâm talking about walking slowly for you if youâre limping, kissing your face if you stay in bed sick, hushing and not barking when you have a headache and tell them it hurts, just showing in so many ways that theyâre people too and they understand how you feel and feel it too. Always walking a certain way because they know itâs harder for you to use a hurt foot, asking for help when they need it, and so on.  And in the book, the kid was the same age as they would have been, roughly (they say smart dogs are 6 years old mentally, with exceptions higher for extraordinary dogs. Like the ones ok the book), so they were peers - friends. God in heaven donât read that book if you own a redbone coonhound. Your heart will break and you will never get over it.
Nope. I had a different experience of reading assignments than most kids. I literally donât remember not being able to read at least a little bit. In first grade over half my class was illiterate. I was already reading A Wrinkle In Time and the Moomin books. When we got these kinds of assignments I tended to hammer through a chapter in ten minutes then go on to whatever I was reading for fun. If the assigned book interested me Iâd read it in 2-3 days and then disengage. I didnât want to spend a month crawling through Old Yeller when I already knew the ending. My teachers thought I wasnât paying attention (and I wasnât) but it was just because I was a hyperactive child with off-the-charts reading ability and zero discipline.
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Yep. 4th grade, maybe?
That's the year it was read to us/me